“And now that I’m here — it’s pretty awesome!”
That’s the perfect word for a near-perfect night for the Dayton Flyers freshman from St. Henry.
In his first college game, he came off the bench Friday night against Southeast Missouri State and made 7 of 9 field-goal attempts, went 5 for 7 from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 21 points as UD overwhelmed the Redhawks, 84-53.
That’s the third-most points by a Flyer in his freshman debut. Marcus Johnson had 23 in 2006 and Chris Wright scored 22 a year later.
During one 7 ½-minute span in the second half, Mikesell scored 15 points and had the crowd “oohing” and “aaahing” with each 3-point swish, the last of which he held his shooting hand in its high finish a few heartbeats longer than normal.
He was feeling it and so was the crowd.
With just under six minutes left in the game, the Red Scare student section began its singsong chant:
“Ry-an…Mike-sell!”
“Ry-an…Mike-sell!”
And when coach Archie Miller brought Mikesell to the bench for what many thought was the end of his night, the crowd heartily applauded the 6-foot-7 forward’s effort.
And that’s when one thing seemed clear. You had just witnessed the first blush of roundball romance
The Flyer Faithful have a new love.
Even Miller seemed smitten. He put Mikesell back in the game some 90 seconds after he took him out and let him stay on the court until the walk-ons were brought in for the final few seconds.
In reference to Mikesell’s shooting display, Miller smiled and shook his head afterward: “You saw I wasn’t taking him out much after that.
“He had a real nice night. Any time you can start off your career with one of those … Ryan is a worker, a competitive kid. He has great confidence about himself. It’s pretty much been that way the whole time.
“To be able to make those threes as consistently as he was tonight was nice to see. That gives us another guy who can shoot the ball. But more importantly just look at his line:
“He did a lot, four assists, four offensive rebounds, four defensive rebounds (plus a blocked shot and no turnovers). That was just a terrific night for us.”
The moment wasn’t too big for the 18-year -old Mikesell, although he admitted there were some pregame nerves.
Leading up to this season opener he said he had talked to several people from back home in St. Henry and guessed at least 50 had made the 68-mile trip to UD Arena.
“During warm-ups, seeing everyone fill into the arena I was a little nervous,” he said. “But once I got out there I didn’t even think about it. You just play.”
Asked if it was just another game for him, he shrugged: “Obviously the competition is better, but it’s the same concept. The ball has to go into the hoop.”
Back at St. Henry High School he had a lot of nights like this.
A first-team all-state player as a senior, he averaged 22.2 points and 11.2 rebounds. This is at a school where athletic excellence is almost a birthright.
The Mercer County town of just under 2,500 has produced 20 state championship teams in four sports at St. Henry High. Its heady list of favorite sons includes, among others, baseball star Wally Post, NFL players Jim Lachey, Jeff Hartings and Bobby Hoying and Ohio State quarterback Todd Boeckman.
How does such a little town produce so many stellar athletes?
Mikesell thought a second: “It’s just people come back to St. Henry and make more generations.”
In fact, Post is his great uncle.
As for the other St. Henry player who was a stalwart of the Flyers a few years back, 6-foot-10 Kurt Huelsman, Mikesell said he’s now back at St. Henry coaching the girls basketball team.
Mikesell said his uncle has had UD season tickets “for years.”
“I came to a lot of games here over the years,“ he said. He mentioned some of the Flyers he followed and liked: Chris Wright, Chris Johnson, Marcus Johnson, Paul Williams … and Huelsman.”
Ironically he now joined two of them on the list of greatest Flyer debuts.
But like we said earlier, it was an “almost” perfect night.
There was that one long-range shot with just under two minutes left in the first half. Mikesell launched it without hesitation and it caromed off the rim.
From the sideline Miller gave him the evil eye.
“That (shot) was a little unnecessary,” Mikesell said a bit sheepishly afterward. “It was like a trailing NBA 3. I thought I was feeling it.”
Miller shook his head and smiled when it was brought up:
“He had it going a little bit, but sometimes when you’re running 1,000 miles an hour, you let it go at about 25 feet.
“He’s aggressive. You like guys you have to pull off the reins rather than tell them to get going. But I’d like to have a little more confidence that I’ve seen him make that one before. And I hadn’t seen him make it.”
Then again, the season is young.
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